It’s a pass Titan Anderson has thrown more times than he can count.

Friday night before a crowd of roughly 6,800 Pink Arrow enthusiasts, the backup Lowell quarterback threw it again and this time the throw had a little more on it.

The 27-yard corner route to Luke Bigham extended Lowell’s second-quarter lead to 21-0;  provided Anderson with his first varsity touchdown pass; and on a night when cancer survivors and those now affected by cancer were remembered and honored, Anderson played for his father (Gavin) who was been diagnosed with kidney cancer four years ago.

“My first thought was oops I hope it gets there,” Anderson said. “One thing I was sure of is that I didn’t want to throw a pick on Pink Arrow Day.”

The TD throw was made special because his father was there to see it and celebrate the moment.

“Titan’s been playing football since he was 10. I’ve seen him throw a number of touchdown passes, but this one was special,” said Gavin Anderson. “It’s a funny thing, you come to these as a supporter and then cancer hits your family and you realize the impact this terrible disease has on both sides as a survivor and families who have lost a loved one. I could not survive and make it through this without the support of family and community.This event is both uplifting and motivating.”

The Red Arrows defeated Muskegon Reeths Puffer 42-7. Lowell scored on its opening three possessions of the first quarter.

Gabe Dean rumbled 68 yards for the first touchdown followed by Renn Osborne’s one-yard burst  and then Bigham’s touchdown reception with 3:39 to play in the opening quarter.

Lowell’s second-quarter scores came on a three-yard run by Gabe Gorman and Osborne’s electrifying 100-yard interception return for a touchdown midway through the second quarter.

The Red Arrows’ lone second-half score came in the third quarter on an Osborne three-yard run.

Reeths-Puffer dented the scoreboard in the fourth quarter when Jordan Riley busted into the end zone from three yards out.

Dean led all Lowell rushers with 150 yards. Ligham has a team-leading four receptions for 58 yards and Anderson was 3-for-3 for 37 yards and a touchdown.

The defense held Reeths-puffer to 140 yard on the ground and 56 through the air.

The statistics and score were secondary on this night, it’s the event everyone wanted to talk about.

“The overall event is awesome. It’s hard to quantify,” said Lowell football coach Noel Dean. “So much emotion.”

Through three years of the project the Pink Arrow effort raised over $700,000. This year’s event could possibly raise that total to $1 million or more.

The win improved Lowell’s record to 3-0. The Red Arrows will host  Forest Hills Central (1-2) Friday. The Rangers walloped Creston Friday night 74-12.

Category: Football, Lowell | Comments Off on Lowell 42, Reeths-Puffer 7 – Anderson’s pass hits its mark and touches many hearts

Neither a win over Rockford, the heat nor next week’s Pink Arrow game could keep Lowell from focusing in on the task at hand.

And just  maybe the happenings (EGR’s 30-22  loss) in Holland on Thursday night dialed the Red Arrows in a little more.

Either way, anyway, Lowell played through it all and played exceptionally well in its 49-7 lopsided win over Kenowa Hills.

The Knights, coming off a 30-15 opening week win against Traverse City West, could not slow down Lowell’s ability to run, throw and catch the ball.

“If you can do all of those things, what else do you need?” Kenowa Hills coach Scott Van Essen asked. “Lowell has it all. That’s a great program Noel has.”

Lowell found the end zone on its five first-half possessions in building a 35-7 half-time lead.

“Coming in here, we knew we were playing a good Kenowa Hills football team,” Noel Dean said. “But I was pleased with how the kids responded and played.””I thought our kids played very well,” Dean said.

The Red Arrows turned a Kenowa Hills shanked punt in the first quarter into a touchdown. It took a half dozen plays and a three-yard burst from senior quarterback Gabe Dean to put Lowell on the board first.

The Red Arrows followed that up with a Joshua Addington one-yard run right before the end of the first quarter, building a 14-0 advantage.

Minutes into the second quarter, Dean found Luke Bigham on a 10-yard touchdown pass, extending Lowell’s lead to 21-0.

“It was  going to take a perfect game to beat Lowell,” Kenowa Hills coach Scott Van Essen said. “We come out and give them a short field, and it went (downhill) from there. We wanted to slow it down and work the field position game, and we couldn’t do that. We had to get off to a good start, and we didn’t.”

The Knights did manage to put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the second quarter when its star running back, Kitwana Clark scored on a one-yard touchdown run. Clark amassed 119 of Kenowa’s 147 yards on the ground.

Lowell answered with two more scores of its own before half-time.

Dean fund Bigham on a 48-yard pass and catch for the Red Arrows fourth touchdown of the night.

Then, with 18 seconds remaining on the first half clock, Ren Osborne scored his first of two touchdowns on a 14-yard pass from Dean.

The Red Arrow back added a 65-yard touchdown scamper on the Red Arrows first possession of the third quarter.

Lowell’s final touchdown of the night was handed in by its defense. Shannon Massey returned a fourth-quarter interception 75 yards for a Red Arrow touchdown.

Lowell rushed for 151 yards with Osborne leading the way with 65. Dean was held to 33 yards on 10 carries.

The Lowell QB, however, was 11-for-12 for 215 yards and three touchdowns through the air.

“We gave a lot of kids a chance to play, especially in the second half, because of the heat.” Dean explained.

Category: Football, Lowell | Comments Off on Lowell keeps focus in blowout win over Kenowa Hills

It’s been that August-September romance for sometime now.

That courtship continued Thursday night as the Red Arrow football team won its 18th consecutive season opener with an impressive and sometimes dominating performance over perennial Division 1 football power Rockford.

Lowell before a crowd of roughly 7,500 people  controlled the game throughout en route to a 28-7 win over the Rams.

So what is it about season openers?

“I don’t know. We’re lucky and fortunate I guess. We  have such great kids. I think we’re ready and the kids have pride, play hard and want to please,” Dean explained.”I don’t know how we pulled this off tonight. I’m as surprised as you are. It was a full effort on all three sides of the ball, offense, defense and special teams. It was a great team effort.”

Lowell grabbed momentum early when a jarring hit on KC Zenner produced a fumble on the Red Arrows’ opening series punt. Lowell’s Joshua Addington recovered  the  Rockford fumble at the Ram 22 yard line.

Three plays later Gabe Dean scored the game’s first touchdown from the Ram 20.

Rockford’s first possession ended four plays in when Lowell’s Pierce Watson recovered a Ram fumble at the visitor’s 35 yard line.

Lowell needed just six plays to march the distance for its second touchdown of the night. Dean capped the short drive with a three-yard  touchdown burst.

“I’m excited for the kids and coaches and all the work they put into getting ready this summer,” Dean said.

The Red Arrows’ senior quarterback was efficient running the ball and proficient through the air. Dean rushed for 100 yards and threw for 192 on 12-of-19 passing with a touchdown and one interception.

“i felt like we had a great game plan on both sides of the ball,” Gabe Dean said. “I felt good out there, but couldn’t have done it without the help of the other guys.” Gabe said.

His coach said his QB was enjoying himself out there. “Gabe looked at peace out there. He decided he’s going to wrestle at the Division 1 level following high school and football will be something to enjoy over the next couple of months.  It will be a side job.”

Rockford, who loss in the Division 1 semifinal a year ago, did not look like it was having fun nor did it look like a team that was able to find its comfort zone.

That was evident by it’s coach’s post game demeanor.

“I thought the loss of LaPrairie was big, but we were totally out of sync on offense the whole night. Credit their defense for that.  Congratulations to Lowell. It’s a geat program and we’ve got to get better,” Rockford football coach Ralph Munger said.

On its first possession of the second  quarter, Lowell drove 80 yards in eight plays before Dean found Renn Osborne over the middle for a 26-yard touchdown pass. It was one of three completions in the drive, totaling 63 yards.

“I thought we did some good pitching and catching out there. The receivers read their routes, and made some good field position catches.  It’s a nice young group of kids we’ve got,” Dean said.

Osborne finished the night with two catches for 46 yards.

Blake Lyman led all Red Arrow receivers, pulling  in four passes for 77 yards. Luke Bigham added five receptins for 51 yards.

Lowell’s final touchdown of the game came 1:11 to play in the first half.

Addington who rushed for 51 yards, pounded  one in from the four-yard line to give the Red Arrows a 28-0 half time lead.

Rockford’s only touchdown of the night came on its second possession of the second half when Ryan Hartley  found the end zone from 11 yards out.

The Rams were held to 114 yards on the ground while throwing for 173. It’s starting quarterback Mark LaPrairie was 7-of-16 for 68 for the game in the first half. There was no report on the extent of his injury. Backup quarterback Kyle Short completed nine passes in 21 attempts for 105 yards.

“Our defense runs well and hits hard. You’ve got to like that abut Lowell kids,” Dean explained.

He also liked the kicking of Grant Breuker. “Our kicking game has improved. The ability to put the ball on the 20 is a weapon. Grant drove the ball deep down field,” Dean said.

Lowell now 1-0 travels to Kenowa Hills Friday. Rockford (9-1), meanwhile, hosts Holt.

Category: Football, Lowell | Comments Off on Lowell in control – Knocks off Rockford

Preparing for a quality opponent for a non conference season-opener is business as usual when you already play in arguably the state’s toughest conference.

“Every school we play in the O-K Red is a quality program. Every week we play quality schools and against quality athletes,” said Rockford football coach Ralph Munger. “I’ve been doing this a long time. We focus and get ready to play regardless of the opponent. This is game one of nine.”

One won’t hear any reservations from Munger about coaching against his good friend Noel Dean, or playing against one of West Michigan’s top football programs.

He saves that for the discontinuation of a scrimmage the two coaches held for players who don’t play much don’t get on the field much during the regular season.

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“Noel and I have collaborated on an effort that allows those kids to play against one another. It’s great for them, for us and for the parents,” Munger explained.

The two West  Michigan coaches have collaborated on what is called a Bubba Scrimmage.

“We did it a couple times a year on a Monday night. It helped in the development of players who otherwise don’t get a lot playing time,” Dean expalined.

That effort has been discontinued since the two schools are scheduled to play this year and in 2012. Munger and Dean have also worked together on 7-on-7 drills in the off season along with a pre-season scrimmage.

With the scrimmage not available, Dean and his Red Arrows had to travel to Howell this year.

As for all the variables the game brings, Dean says he’s not given them much thought.

“I do know the fans are worked up.. They have been waiting for this game and wanting this game,” Dean said.

The Lowell coach is also sure of the schools’ colors. “It will be the orange and black against the red and black.”

Dean and his club are aware of the the challenges the Rams bring.

As to what will await his club on Thursday, “Rockford runs  a lot of misdirection and likes to run the football up and down your throat,” Dean said.  “Games come down to tackling and the offensive lines,” Dean says.

The Red Arrow coach of 15 years points out that playing tough season-openers isn’t new to Lowell.

“Yes, Rockford is a darn good football team, but it’s not as if we haven’t played a lot of good teams to open the season. We’ve played Catholic Central, Davison, Hudsonvile, Grandville and Three Rivers,” Dean explained. “I also know Rockford has two-and-a-half times more students than we do. If you combine Lowell and East Grand Rapids, Rockford would still have 700 more students.

Munger is familiar with that sort of refrain. “Yes, we are one o the largest schools in the state.We also have over 30 varsity sports so the students are spread out,” he explains.

Both team’s enter the 2011 game coming off heartbreaking, season ending losses; Lowell in the Division 2 state championship, and Rockford in the Division I semi final. Both programs have won three state championships over the last 10 years.

“Rockford runs  a lot of misdirection and likes to run the football up and down your throat,” Dean said.  “Games come down to tackling and the offensive lines.”

The Ram coach said he is trying to prepare his club for a game against one of the best athletes in the state in Red Arrow quarterback Gabe Dean.

“Lowell also has a pair of nice receivers,” Munger added. “Lowell is a tough, hard nose, hard working, hard core unselfish team. And it is a program that does things right.”

Rockford’s 12-year veteran coach adds that  the game will not be about the coaches on the sideline. “It will be about the kids and how well they play the game inside the lines,” he concludes.

Category: Football, Lowell | Comments Off on Loss of scrimmages not lost by Rockford/Lowell coaches in build-up to game